Disabling wireless telephone use while in vehicle

ABSTRACT

A method includes determining that a wireless telephone is in a moving vehicle using, e.g., speed as calculated by the telephone using GPS signals or co-location of the telephone with a vehicle as might be determined by receiving the vehicle&#39;s position via Bluetooth. Use of the telephone is selectively denied if it is determined that the telephone is in a vehicle.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to disabling the use of a wirelesstelephone while the telephone is in a vehicle.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Laws have been passed in the name of public safety to prohibit use ofwireless telephones in vehicles by the drivers of the vehicles. Theselaws depend on user compliance and thus may be circumvented.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method includes determining that a wireless telephone is in a movingvehicle, and selectively denying at least telephony service to thetelephone in response to the determining act.

In some embodiments he determining act is executed by using successiveposition signals from the telephone over time to determine that a speedof the telephone exceeds a threshold. The determining act can beexecuted by the wireless telephone itself or by a telephony systemcommunicating with the wireless telephone.

In non-limiting implementations the determining act is executed by usinga position signal from the vehicle and a position vehicle from thetelephone, and if the two position signals represent substantially thesame location, determining that the telephone is in the vehicle. Thedenying act is executed by a wireless telephony system or by thetelephone itself. The system may cause a busy signal to be returned tocallers of the wireless telephone when it is determined that thetelephone is in the vehicle.

If desired, if the telephone is determined to be in the vehicle, anaudible and/or visual message is displayed on the wireless telephoneindicating denial of service in response to a user of the wirelesstelephone attempting an outgoing call. If the telephone determines thatthe telephone is in the vehicle, use nonetheless can be enabled if thetelephone receives an authorized use signal from, e.g., a sanctionedvehicle such as a police vehicle, train, etc.

In another aspect, a wireless telephone has a wireless telephonytransceiver, a position receiver, and a processor communicating with thetransceiver and receiver. A tangible computer storage medium isaccessible to the processor and is programmed to cause the processor todetermine if a speed as indicated by signals from the position receiverexceeds a threshold and if so, to disable at least some calls to and/orfrom the telephone.

In another aspect, a wireless telephone has a wireless telephonytransceiver, a position receiver, and a processor communicating with thetransceiver and receiver. A tangible computer storage medium isaccessible to the processor and is programmed to cause the processor todetermine if a position of the telephone as indicated by at least onesignal from the position receiver substantially matches a positron of avehicle and if so, to disable at least some calls to and/or from thetelephone.

The details of the present invention, both as to its structure andoperation, can best be understood in reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts, and inwhich:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless telephone and a vehicle;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of first example logic;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of second example logic; and

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of third example logic.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 shows a wireless telephone 10 that can be carried by a user intoa vehicle 12. The wireless telephone 10 includes a processor 14 that canaccess a tangible computer storage medium 16 such as but not limiteddisk-based storage or solid state storage. The processor 14 alsocommunicates with a wireless telephony transceiver 18 such as hut notlimited a global systems for mobile communication (GSM) transceiver, acode division multiple access (CDMA) transceiver, variations andmodifications thereof, as well as other types of wireless telephonytransceivers including, without limitation, TDMA, FDMA, SOMA,wideband-CDMA, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), etc.

The processor 14 also communicates with a position receiver 20 such as aglobal positioning satellite (GPS) receiver to receive positioninformation therefrom. If desired, in some embodiments the telephone 10can include a short-range transceiver 23 such as but not limited to aBluetooth transceiver.

The vehicle 12 may include a vehicle processor 24 such as an enginecontrol module (ECM) accessing a tangible computer storage medium 26such as but not limited disk-based storage or solid state storage. Thevehicle processor 24 may also, in some embodiments, communicate with awireless telephony transceiver 28 such as but not limited a globalsystems for mobile communication (GSM) transceiver, a code divisionmultiple access (CDMA) transceiver, variations and modificationsthereof, as well as other types of wireless telephony transceiversincluding, without limitation, TDMA, FDMA, SDMA, wideband-CDMA,orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), etc.

The vehicle processor 24 can also communicates with a position receiver30 such as a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver to receiveposition information therefrom. If desired, in some embodiments thevehicle 12 can include a short-range transceiver 31 such as but notlimited to a Bluetooth transceiver.

FIG. 2 shows logic that may be implemented by the telephone 12,relieving a telephony system infrastructure with which the telephone 12communicates from executing the present logic and thus enhancingscalability. It is to be understood that the logic of FIG. 12 may beprogrammed in the telephone storage medium 16 for all wirelesstelephones in a jurisdiction or for only some wireless telephones. Forexample, telephones used by police, emergency responders, and othersanctioned personnel may not include the logic of FIG. 2 (or may includethe logic in a disabled state established by the telephone provider) andthus may not be constrained by the logic thereof.

At block 32, the process starts and moves to block 34 to receive two ormore successive position signals from the position receiver 20. Theposition signals are used to determine speed at block 36 by calculatingthe distance between the positions indicated by the signal and dividingby the time between receipt of the signals.

At decision diamond 38 it is determined whether the calculated speedexceeds a threshold, indicating that the phone 10 is moving at a rate ofspeed associated with use in a moving vehicle. If the threshold isexceeded the logic optionally may move to block 40 to determine whetheran authorized moving use signal, preferably an encrypted code programmedinto the phone that can be periodically refreshed via, e.g., thetelephony network, is received. By way of non-limiting embodiment, apolice vehicle or a train or other sanctioned vehicle may be programmedto send, via, e.g., the short range transmitters 23, 31, a signalindicating to nearby telephones that use should be enabled. In this way,train use, for example, is permitted, as is use of a phone that has notbeen exempted as described above from the logic of FIG. 2.

Decision diamond 42 is executed if block 40 is provided to determine ifauthorized moving use exists. If not, the telephone is disabled at block44 for at least some calls, e.g., for all non-911 calls. Or, all callsincluding 911 calls may be disabled. Disabling may be doneprogrammatically by the telephone processor 14 by simply preventingoutgoing or incoming calls from being processed, possibly accompanied bya suitable audible and/or visual disable informational message on thedisplay 22. Or, the phone 10 may simply deenergize itself. Lessdesirably, disabling can be effected by sending a “disable” signal 10the telephony network to cause the network to block calls to and fromthe phone in accordance with power transmission principles and/or othercall-blocking principles known in the art.

If moving use is determined to be authorized at decision diamond 42 orif the speed threshold was not exceeded at decision diamond 38, use ofthe phone 10 is not disabled at state 46. The logic of FIG. 2 may beexecuted periodically, e.g., every thirty seconds or based on state,e.g., every time a position update is received, or based on otherheuristics.

FIG. 3 shows alternate logic that may be executed without burdening thetelephony system. At block 48 the telephone processor 14 begins andmoves to block 50 to receive at least one position signal from theposition receiver 20. At block 52 die phone 10 also receives, forexample via the short range transmitters 23, 31, a position signal froma nearby vehicle as the vehicle might have received its position from,e.g., the vehicle position receiver 30. If the positions substantiallymatch (e.g., within a threshold distance such as ten feet of each other)at decision diamond 54, use of the phone 10 is disabled at block 56.Otherwise, use is not disabled at block 58. The logic of FIG. 3 may beexecuted periodically or conditionally, e.g., upon receipt of a vehicleposition signal over the short range transceiver 23.

FIG. 4 shows that both the vehicle 12 and wireless phone 10 can beprogrammed according to, e.g., statute to periodically send positionsignals along with their identifications to a central database, which atelephony system commencing at block 60 can receive at block 62. Anyphone except sanctioned phones discussed above that is determined to beco-located with a vehicle (except with a sanctioned vehicle) can bedisabled at block 64 by, e.g., blocking incoming and outgoing calls,with exceptions such as for 911 calls if desired.

In still further alternate embodiments, the logic of FIG. 2 may beexecuted by the telephony system, e.g., the phone 10 can send itsposition to the system and a system server can determine speed fromsuccessive positions, inferring use in a moving vehicle. In yet anotheralternate embodiment in which the telephony system is recruited toprevent unauthorized moving use of wireless phones, trains can sendtheir GPS coordinates to the telephony system to permit phone use intrains when the two positions (trains and phone) match.

While the particular DISABLING WIRELESS TELEPHONE USE WHILE IN VEHICLEis herein shown and described in detail, it is to be understood that thesubject matter which is encompassed by the present invention is limitedonly by the claims. For instance, instead of disabling itself when itsspeed exceeds the threshold, the phone may emit load beeps to alert theuser of possible unauthorized use while driving, and/or it mayautomatically send a report of exceeding the threshold to a centralserver along with its position and time, and the server can then beaccessed by law enforcement personnel to send warning letters tooffenders, or even to send citations to the users for unauthorized use.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device comprising: at least one computer memorythat is not a transitory signal and that includes instructions whichwhen executed by a digital processor configure the digital processorfor: receiving a first position signal from a position sensor of awireless telephone; receiving a second position signal from the positionsensor; determining whether the first and second position signalsindicate a speed satisfying a threshold, such that the speed isdetermined based the first position signal and the second positionsignal; and selectively denying at least some service to the telephoneresponsive to a determination that the first and second position signalsindicate that the speed is greater than the threshold.
 2. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the instructions when executed by the processorconfigure the processor for: using plural position signals from thetelephone or from the vehicle to determine a speed; determining whetherthe speed satisfies a threshold; responsive to a determination that thespeed satisfies the threshold, selectively denying at least some serviceto the telephone; and responsive to a determination that the speed doesnot satisfy the threshold, determining that the telephone is not in amoving vehicle and consequently not selectively denying at least someservice to the telephone.
 3. The device of claim 1, wherein thedetermining act is executed by the wireless telephone.
 4. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the determining act is executed by a telephony systemcommunicating with the wireless telephone.
 5. The device of claim 1,wherein the denying act is executed by a wireless telephony system. 6.The device of claim 5, wherein the system causes a busy signal to bereturned to callers of the wireless telephone when it is determined thatthe telephone is in the vehicle.
 7. The device of claim 1, wherein theinstructions when executed by the processor configure the processor to,responsive to a determination that the telephone is in a moving vehicle,present an audible and/or visual message indicating denial of service.8. The device of claim 3, wherein the instructions when executed by theprocessor configure the processor to, responsive to a determination thatthe telephone is in a moving vehicle and responsive to receiving anauthorized use signal, enable full use of the telephone.
 9. The deviceof claim 1, comprising a wireless telephone holding the computer memory.10. Device, comprising: a computer memory that is not a transitory waveand that includes instructions which when executed by a processorconfigure the processor to: determine whether a speed as indicated bysignals from a position receiver of a wireless communication device orof a vehicle exceeds a threshold; and responsive to a determination thatthe speed exceeds the threshold, automatically send a report thereof toa central server separate from the telephone and accessible to lawenforcement.
 11. The device of claim 10, wherein the instructions whenexecuted by the processor configure the processor to, responsive to adetermination that the speed exceeds the threshold, disable at leastsome service to and/or from the telephone.
 12. The device of claim 11,wherein the instructions when executed by the processor configure theprocessor to not disable calls responsive to a determination that thethreshold is exceeded under a condition that the processor receives amoving use authorized signal.
 13. The device of claim 10, comprising awireless telephone holding the computer memory.
 14. A device comprising:a computer memory that is not a transitory wave and that includesinstructions which when executed by a processor configure the processorto: receive a first position signal from a position sensor of a mobiletelephone; receive a second position signal from a position sensor of avehicle; using the first and second position signals to determinewhether a position of the mobile telephone substantially matches aposition of a vehicle; responsive to a determination that the positionof the telephone substantially matches the position of a vehicle,disable at least some service to and/or from the telephone; andresponsive to a determination that the position of the telephone doesnot substantially match a position of a vehicle, not disable service toand/or from the telephone.
 15. The device of claim 14, comprising awireless telephone holding the computer memory
 16. The device of claim14, wherein the instructions when executed by the processor configurethe processor to: determine a speed using plural position signals fromthe position receiver of the telephone and/or the position sensor of thevehicle; responsive to a determination that the speed meets a threshold,disable at least some service to and/or from the telephone.
 17. Thedevice of claim 14, wherein the instructions when executed by theprocessor configure the processor to: not disable service responsive toa determination that the positions substantially match under a conditionin which the processor receives a moving use authorized signal.
 18. Thedevice of claim 14, comprising a short range transceiver for receivingthe moving use authorized signal.
 19. The device of claim 14, comprisinga short range transceiver for receiving the position of a vehicle. 20.The device of claim 16, wherein the instructions when executed by theprocessor configure the processor to: responsive to a determination thatthe speed meets the threshold, automatically send a report thereof.